LABOR WATCH

'No Union, No Strike Policy' is Tearing Cavite Workers Apart

The revival of the "no union, no strike" (NUNS) policy in Cavite appears to be making labor organizing more tortuous.

BY DENNIS ESPADA
Bulatlat

DASMARINAS, Cavite – The revival of the "no union, no strike" (NUNS) policy in Cavite appears to be making labor organizing more tortuous.

Cavite’s re-elected Gov. Erineo "Ayong" Maliksi is using a dual strategy of attracting new investors while keeping labor unions out by coercion. Thus said the militant labor alliance Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW), which described the condition of thousands of Caviteño workers -- majority of whom are women – as being stuck in desolate factories fit to be called "sweatshops."

There is also a widespread public perception among Caviteños that a factory is doomed to close if workers start forming a union, thus preventing many workers from taking action to change their plight.

Anti-labor armed group

Upon assuming his post in 2001, Maliksi created the Cavite Industrial Peace Council (CIPC). Likewise, through the Provincial Local Development and Livelihood Office, the Cavite Industrial Peace Advisory Group (CIPAG) was established.

An article published in the Pinoy Enquirer magazine described CIPAG as "responsible for conciliation and mediation of management and labor conflicts arising in various companies." But, testimonies by local workers showed something rather grim.

"Armado ang mga 'yan (These people are armed)," says SCW labor organizer Manny Asuncion in a cracking voice. "Lalo sa Gateway (economic zone), nagpapakita 'yan ng baril sa mga manggagawa kapag nagbabahay-bahay sila...tinatakot ang mga manggagawa para pumirma ng retraction sa pag-uunyon (Especially in Gateway, they show their guns when they visit workers' homes."

Asuncion recalled an incident wherein a group of people believed to be from the Office of the Provincial Governor (OPG) paid visits to workers of Tokumi Electronics Phils. Inc. (TEPI) several times in 2003 and threatened that they will lose their jobs if they keep joining trade union activities. Other union members also had similar experiences in their communities.

CIPAG was also involved in violent dispersals of labor strikes which resulted in Asuncion's arrest and detention.

Industrial peace?

According to SCW, the government's concept of "industrial peace" is to reinforce the stability of foreign investments where worker's productivity is maximized purportedly by eliminating conditions that will hamper production. These reportedly include strikes and other labor protests.

Juanito "Johnny" Remulla, who was governor from 1979-1986 and 1988-1995 first implemented the NUNS policy as he peddled Cavite to foreign investors. Workers charged that he banned labor activism and suppressed those engaging in strikes, pickets and other forms of labor-management disputes.

From 2001 up to 2004, under Gov. Maliksi’s leadership, local government offices, employers and state police forces reportedly worked in concert to “bring down” more than 20 unions within Cavite’s economic zones such as Gateway Business Park, First Cavite Industrial Estate and the Cavite Export Processing Zone (CEPZ). The last is one of the largest government-run economic zone in the country, with 215 firms employing over 56,000 workers.

A research study conducted by Steven McKay of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Department of Sociology which was presented in April 2002 at the annual meeting of the Association of Asian Studies in Washington, D.C. noted that workers in the Philippines, particularly in Cavite, "face a mounting litany of obstacles to organize labor unions."

"As in the past, persistent high unemployment acts to discipline restive workers fearful of losing their jobs if they speak out. Organizing has become even more onerous with the decline in traditional union power and the growing unwillingness (and inability) of the state to enforce national and international labor rights. Finally, many new manufacturing jobs, the traditional power base for union building, are concentrated inside the economic processing zones where many employers continue to wield a wide array of union-busting weapons with impunity," the McKay study also stated.

Maliksi has several times denied he is implementing the NUNS policy. The SCW however said that it has repeatedly asked for a dialogue to clarify the issues regarding his policies but Maliksi declined. Bulatlat

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